Comedy of Errors at Indian Dealerships

This is a discussion on Comedy of Errors at Indian Dealerships within The Indian Car Scene, part of the BHP India category; Visited Techno Automobiles, TATA Fiat dealer at Dwarka. Checked out the Indigo Manza, they had a black Aura on display. ...

my experience with linkway honda goregoan (east)sales n service
taken my honda civic for 1 service, on being asked about whether they use synthetic engine oil
" saar, oil is not natural substance so it is synthetic " a service executive saying this is shocking
honda only uses mineral oil for civics

This reminds me of a ex-Hyundai dealer (Now Toyota) in Surat - It's been a good 6 years now, that this happened. I had gone with my parents to check out the Accent GVS there. My parents were more interested in the then New Honda City, and they started comparing the Accent to it. It so happened that the owner of the dealership was around too, and on hearing the comparison, he walked up to us and said : "The New Honda City is very underpowered, guys. It has such a weak engine that you wont be able to climb the flyover near the Railway Station". I looked at him, nodded convinced, thanked him and walked off!

- If such is the state of the dealership owners (who ofcourse overdo, trying to hard sell their products), what can be expected from the sales executives, who have been strictly briefed to blabber anything just to sell the car, alongwith the finance and accesories!

This thread reminds me of my visit to the Mahindra showroom on MG road, Pune... I was there to check out the Logan soon after it was launched.

I was seated in the driver seat with the sales woman next to me and then I made the biggest mistake of my life... I asked her to tell me about the features offered with the top end variant and she started off with the indicator switch followed by the vipers and then the AC.

What kind of features are these I mean seriously I was thanking my stars that she din't blow the horn and say look the car even has a horn for crying out loud

Went to a Chevy Dealer on the 9th November and was looking at the Cruze. So was asking him about PEPS and the push start button. The first question I asked him was isn't it possible for someone to sneak in from the other side and start the car while you are standing at some distance. First he refused saying that you have the key but then I reminded him about the Push Button Start so he replied,

"Saar, if you even start the car, the ABS will lock the brakes and the car will be stopped after covering 1-1.5 Km's."

I was totally shocked and told him that doesn't the ABS' main job is not to lock the brakes after which he said he doesn't know about that but the Car will stop.

After some more queries, he became so tired that when I sneaked back in after 10 mins. with my parents he was nowhere to be seen

Given the rank idiocy that seems rampant at the dealer networks one could adopt the following method whenever one intends buying a vehicle.

One does all one's research on a prospective car via the internet (using Forums/Fora like ours), various car magazines, and other extraneous methods first.

.....

I actually use a variation of this method - 1. Talk to owners of the car, 2. Talk to the mechanics in the A.S.S. (not the Managers or Service Advisors but the real mechanics - do not worry, the Sales guys will smooth things through with an eye on the eventual sale), 3. Talk to drivers who drive the car whether for a owner or the drivers in the dealership. This gives accurate and useful information.